Richard Henry Lee in the American Revolution

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Richard Henry Lee’s path to independence

Richard Henry Lee helped turn the movement for colonial rights into a formal demand for independence. On June 7, 1776, he introduced the resolution declaring that the colonies should become independent states. The Virginia statesman deserves attention in his own right, rather than as a character in the musical 1776 or through confusion with later members of the Lee family. Confederate general Robert E. Lee was a relative, not Richard Henry Lee’s descendant.

Family, education, and Virginia politics

Richard Henry Lee was born on January 20, 1732, to Thomas Lee and Hannah Harrison Ludwell Lee, at Stratford in Westmoreland County, Virginia. His family’s wealth, political connections, land, and use of enslaved labor shaped his opportunities. His father served as acting governor of Virginia. Richard received early instruction at home before continuing his education in England.

In 1748, at sixteen, Lee went to Yorkshire to study at Wakefield Academy. He later traveled in continental Europe. Overseas study and travel were opportunities available to a relatively small, wealthy portion of colonial society, not a universal American rite of passage.

Both of Lee’s parents died in 1750. He returned to Virginia in 1753 and became involved with his siblings in settling their father’s estate.

Lee became a justice of the peace in Westmoreland County in 1757 and entered the House of Burgesses in 1758. There he developed a reputation as an outspoken politician. In 1759, he argued for a duty intended to discourage the importation of enslaved Africans into Virginia.

His opposition to the slave trade did not amount to a rejection of slaveholding in his own life. Lee continued to enslave people. Those two facts need to be considered together when assessing his language about liberty.

Lee’s position on British taxation also developed over time. He initially sought the office of stamp distributor but became a prominent opponent of the Stamp Act. In 1766, he helped organize the Westmoreland protest against that law. The Westmoreland Resolves were an important act of organized resistance, but calling them the first act of sedition against Britain overlooks earlier protests.

Resistance to British taxation

Lee helped develop Virginia’s intercolonial committee of correspondence in 1773. He worked with other leaders, including Thomas Jefferson and Patrick Henry, to exchange information and coordinate resistance. His brothers’ connections in Britain added to the family’s political network. The committees were a shared effort, not an organization created by Lee alone.

Lee represented Virginia in the First Continental Congress in 1774 and the Second Continental Congress. Following instructions from Virginia, he introduced the independence resolution on June 7, 1776. Congress adopted its independence provision on July 2. A separate committee had prepared a declaration explaining the decision, and Congress approved that document on July 4.

The Lee Resolution and later public service

Lee’s resolution gave Congress a direct question to debate and vote upon. It was an important step toward independence, though claims that the Revolution could not have happened without one individual go beyond what historical evidence can establish.

Lee married Anne Aylett in 1757 and, after her death, Anne Gaskins Pinckard in 1769. The Library of Virginia records four children from his first marriage and five from his second. In 1784–1785, he served as president of Congress under the Articles of Confederation. This was a congressional presiding office, not the executive presidency later held by George Washington. The Land Ordinance of 1785 was adopted during his term, establishing an influential framework for surveying and selling western public lands.

After opposing the proposed Constitution without a bill of rights, Lee served as one of Virginia’s first U.S. senators from 1789 until 1792. He died on June 19, 1794. His career connects the independence movement with the later debate about how much authority the new federal government should hold.